Soccer team leaves tourney after deadly bus attack

CABINDA, Angola – Togo withdrew from a continentwide soccer tournament and its players reluctantly prepared to leave Angola on Sunday. A separatist leader warned that violence would not end with the deadly ambush on the team bus that killed three and injured eight.

It took a call from Togo's president to persuade the players to leave the

African Cup of Nations; they said they wanted to stay and compete in honor of

their assistant coach, a team spokesman and the Angolan bus driver who died.

The government dispatched the presidential plane to Angola to retrieve the

team, but the prime minister said they would move slowly to accommodate the

wounded. Togo's Prime Minister Gilbert Houngbo said Angola had not done enough to protect the team after Friday's attack in Cabinda – the oil-rich region in northern Angola which has seen occasional separatist violence.

“We fully understand our government's decision to leave because they didn't receive enough guarantees for our security,” forward Thomas Dossevi told The Associated Press Sunday. “We as players, we wanted to stay to honor the memory of our dead people, but both positions are understandable.”

Togo team captain Emmanuel Adebayor, speaking in an interview with France's RMC radio Sunday, said the team finally decided to “pack our bags and go home” after the Manchester City striker got a call from Togo President Faure Gnassingbe himself urging them to return.